Your Clients Aren't Using Your App. Here's Why
You landed a new client. You set them up. Sent the workout. You walked them through the platform. And then… nothing.
They didn’t log their session. They didn’t open the app or login to the training platform. They might not have even finished creating their account.
This isn’t a motivation problem. It’s a friction problem.
The Numbers Are Brutal
Here’s what the research says about apps and user drop-off:
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25% of users abandon an app after using it just once. One download, one open, gone. (Localytics)
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43% of users abandon onboarding entirely due to friction in account creation and verification. They never even get to the app itself. (IPification)
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If onboarding takes longer than 2 minutes, most people give up. You have 120 seconds before they decide it’s not worth it. (Clutch)
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71% of fitness app users quit within 3 months. And that’s for apps they chose to download themselves—not ones their trainer asked them to use. (RunRepeat)
And here’s the one that should concern you most: a study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that “mandatory account creation before app usage” was identified as a key barrier causing early abandonment of health and fitness apps.
Not bugs. Not bad content. Not poor design. Just the act of making someone create an account.
Granted, these stats are not specific to trainer products where you have a coach working closely with a client to get them onboarded. But the point still stands. It’s already hard enough to get and keep clients motivated to do the training. You shouldn’t have to motivate them to use software.
What This Looks Like in Coaching
You’re a trainer. You use a coaching platform. You send your client a workout.
Before they can see it, they need to do all or some of the following:
- Download an app
- Create an account
- Verify their email
- Set a password
- Maybe answer onboarding questions
- Finally see the workout
That’s six steps before they lift a single weight.
Some clients will do it. The motivated ones. The ones who are already bought in.
But the ones who are on the fence? The ones who are new to training? The ones who just want to see what you sent them?
They’re gone. And you might not even know it - because they never told you they didn’t finish signing up. They just… didn’t.
Ok, there might be some hyperbole there. But what you are trying to do for your client is create an experience that should feel easy and frictionless. Meet them where they are.
If they don’t want to create an account, don’t force them to. If they don’t want to download an app, don’t force them to. If they don’t want to verify their email, don’t force them to.
If they want to communicate with you through WhatsApp, Telegram, or just regular old SMS, let them. Every new behaviour you ask a client to complete is just another potential failure point. Keep it simple!
The Spreadsheet Coaches Had It Right (Sort Of)
There’s a reason so many trainers still use Google Sheets, PDFs, and screenshots. It’s not because they’re technophobes. It’s because those tools have zero friction.
You make a thing. You send a link. They open it. Done.
No app. No login. No “please verify your email.”
The problem with spreadsheets isn’t that they can’t track - it’s that the experience sucks. Your client is pinch-zooming on their phone between sets, accidentally selecting the wrong row, and the whole thing feels like homework instead of training.
And on your end? You’re not going to know they finished their workout unless you go dig through a shared doc. No notification. No summary. Just hoping they updated it. So you’re stuck choosing between:
- A full platform that tracks everything but creates friction your clients don’t want
- A spreadsheet that’s easy to send but clunky to train with
That’s a bad trade-off.
What If You Didn’t Have to Choose?
Here’s the premise behind Trainlike Coach:
You send a link. Your client opens it. They see their workout - exercises, sets, reps, videos, instructions. They tap “Start Workout” and log every set as they train.
No app download. No account creation. No email verification. No password.
When they’re done, the data shows up in your dashboard. You see what they did, when they did it, and how long it took.
It’s the simplicity of a spreadsheet with the tracking of a platform.
This Isn’t About Features
Most coaching software competes on features. More integrations. More analytics. More customization. More everything.
But none of that matters if your clients don’t use it.
The research is clear: every step you add to the process at best annoys your clients and at worst loses you people. Every form field. Every verification email. Every “download our app to continue.”
The question isn’t “what else can this platform do?”
The question is “will my clients actually use it?”
Trainlike Coach is a lightweight coaching tool built for trainers who want client tracking without client friction. No apps. No logins. Just a link.